


isn’t that awful

by androgynousmikewheeler



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Coming Out, F/M, Homophobic Language, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Nonbinary Mike Wheeler, Period-Typical Homophobia, Trans Jonathan Byers, Trans Mike Wheeler, fight me, yes I realize I write way too many coming out fics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:41:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24388342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/androgynousmikewheeler/pseuds/androgynousmikewheeler
Summary: Jo Byers isn’t surprised to see Mike Wheeler on her doorstep, until she discovers he’s come to talk to her.
Relationships: Jonathan Byers & Mike Wheeler, Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Comments: 3
Kudos: 43





	isn’t that awful

**Author's Note:**

> with regards to Jo’s name: at this point in time, she’s clear on her name and pronouns, and is referred to accordingly in narration, but isn’t out to many people, like Mike, hence him referring to her by her dead name

Three knocks sound against the front door. Jo answers to find Mike Wheeler standing on the porch.

“Will isn’t here. Sorry,” Jo says as she starts to swing the door closed, but Mike sticks his foot out to stop it.

“I know. I’m not looking for Will.”

Jo blinks. “You’re not? Why are you here?”

Mike scratches his neck. “Actually, I’m here to talk to you.”

She stares at him blankly. “What? Why?”

“I heard you’re good to talk to. Good at pep talks.”

“Really? High praise.” Jo smiles at him. “Come on in.”

She throws her arm around Mike’s shoulders and guides him into her room. They sit side by side on the bed.

“So why are you in need of a pep talk? What’s up?”

Mike sighs, the words bunching up in his throat. “I, um, there’s something I want to say, but I don’t know how to say it.”

Jo messes with her hair, unsure if she knows what he’s talking about. “Who do you want to say it to?”

“El. My parents. The party,” he fidgets, “Will. Mostly Will.” Just saying his name feels like some sort of release.

“Ah,” Jo says, nodding knowingly.

“I’m just scared of how they’ll react.”

Jo takes a moment to choose her words. “Well, you shouldn’t let the reactions of others stop you from being true to yourself.” A dark thought crosses her mind. “But you also don’t owe anyone the personal parts of yourself, so if telling them might make you unsafe, or even if you just don’t want to, you don’t have to.”

Mike looks at her fearfully. “Do you think one of my friends would hurt me?” His breathing speeds up and he folds into himself.

Jo’s face softens and she squeezes his shoulder. “I meant your parents. I think telling your friends could be really freeing for you. But knowing your parents, they might not react too well to something outside the realm of their perfect nuclear family.”

Mike breathes deeply, each intake of air shaky. “Yeah.”

“But I think your friends would be cool with it. Will, especially.”

He looks up, lashes obscuring his eyes. “Really? I know your dad was...” He trails off.

Jo gives a half-hearted smile. “Will’s never been much like Lonnie, has he?”

Mike shakes his head.

“I think he’d be glad you told him.”

“Even if I... if he was...”

Jo waits patiently for Mike to get his words out, calm in contrast to Mike’s growing agitation.

“He’s the one I... but I’m... he’ll hate me if I...” Mike gives up on trying to talk around it. “I’m in love with him.”

Mike scans Jo’s face for disgust, hatred, repulsion, but finds none. He looks at his feet.

“Isn’t that awful?”

Jo places her hand on his, and Mike flinches away, expecting a blow rather than this gentleness. She waits until Mike looks at her.

“It’s not awful, Mike. Nothing about it is awful.”

“But Will’s a boy.”

Jo shrugs. “So?”

Mike gives her a bewildered look, eyes welling with tears, but she continues.

“I think you should tell him. I’m sure he’d like to know.”

“But what if he never speaks to me again?”

A part of her, the part that has watched her brother pine after Mike Wheeler for years, wants to laugh. “I really doubt it.”

Mike’s voice breaks and his face crumples as he says, “What if he hates me, Jonathan, what if he throws me away like the rotten fag I am?” His voice reaches a crescendo bordering on a cry.

Jo just opens her arms and Mike collapses into them, sobbing.

“Don’t call yourself that, Mike. There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re not dirty, and you’re not rotten, and you don’t deserve the slurs you’re slinging at yourself, even if someone else said them first. You’re in love, and it’s one of the most wonderful things in the world. Don’t you dare hate yourself for that. I don’t, and Will won’t, and neither will your real friends. It’s okay to love Will, and it’s okay to love the parts of you that love Will.”

Jo rubs Mike’s back and rocks softly. They sit like that for a long time, Mike wrapped in Jo’s arms, sobbing into her shirt.

Eventually, the sobs subside, and Mike pulls away from the hug, swiping at his nose. His eyes are red and puffy, but he smiles weakly at Jo.

“Thank you. I think I needed that.”

Jo ruffles his hair and is about to respond when Will’s voice echoes down the hall. “Hey! I’m home,” he calls.

Jo and Mike look at each other.

“You want to go talk to him?” she asks.

Mike shakes his head. “Not today.”

Jo nods. “Okay. Do you wanna hang out and listen to music? I may not be the cool one in the family, but I’ve got magazines and stuff.”

Mike smiles. “That sounds good.”


End file.
